#and idk they just dont look like themselves???

[junajunajunajuna]

Not to mention how it skews culture and makes people into mindless consumers because they dont get to cultivate their own communities or curate their feeds.

I'mma expand this into my own list of reasons I dislike the prevalence of algorithms, actually

1. They make people grow complacent, the lack of opportunities for direct individual action to filter out unwanted content makes it so people rely on whoever owns the platform to take care of problems, and if they dont, well, they just gotta deal with it. This is especially harmful when people who grow up with such feeds venture out into the rest of the internet, an internet without algorithms, one which relies on user filtering. They request the same level of centralised control on the content they view on all websites, which can cause serious damage if the trend continues toward such people becoming the majority

2. People do not earn the skills and knowhow for navigating the internet without being served the content on a silver platter. In a lot of cases, they do not know this is even possible, and since their algorithms would never prompt them to consider that they will never seek out the knowledge themselves. I am guilty of such consumerism myself, be it my fault or not, which is something I want to fix, but it makes me rage all the more against algorithmic social media which makes it so much harder for so many people to find their own information.

3. The post above ^

4. The combination of complacence and lack of knowledge results in a general movement where people dont seek out information and instead consume whatever their algorithm gives them, some people even fearing having to go out and do their own research. For so many people "doing your own research" is searching things up on youtube now, because it's so much more involved than anything they're used to (mostly scrolling) that it feels like research by itself. Even I rarely go into deep dives, partly because of point 5 but also because I have a general struggle when it comes to doing new things (probably a neuro thing) and stuff like that is very, very new. I know I am not alone in this, I know that especially susceptible people feel like this, which is another reason I believe algorithmic media is bad.

5. This absolute domination of algorithmic media harms the very process of finding information, from Google altering results according to the data it has on you to struggling to find what you're looking for on Youtube or Twitter because even the search function relies on an algorithm which makes its very purpose null. Not only is it harder to filter out unwanted content, the magnitude of unwanted content that needs to be filtered out is significantly higher when people cater to the algorithm rather than making it easier for the user to filter the information.

Might edit some parts and tweak the arguments, might make this its own independent post, maybe even a thread, idk, it's 3:30am and I have to sleep

An explainer for why I don't fuck with algorithmic social media

If you give a pigeon a little button to peck that releases pigeon food, it will push the button when it's hungry.

If you give a pigeon a button to peck that releases food every 5 pecks, it will peck it more often.

If you give a pigeon a button to peck that releases food at a randomly selected, always shifting number of pecks, the pigeon will peck that fucking button all day long.

Algorithm based social media is not set up to give you the best most fun stuff all the time, it is set up to give you a bunch of stress and nothingness with a randomized reward of something that actually makes you happy, because they want you pecking that button all damn day. It is a slot machine of content, meant to keep you putting in quarters made of your time and attention till you've nothing left.

At least if I'm having a shit day on my own Tumblr home feed it's because I've made a bad choice about who to follow and I can fix it.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

hi sex batman this might be really tmi so feel free to ignore 💀 but uh. it would comfort me greatly lowkey 😭 so like its DEFINITELY not possible to give myself genital herpes via masturbate right. even if i didnt wash my hands first? because i keep getting like. i dont even fucking know like zits but not zits. abscesses? maybe? on (in?) my vulva. like not in my vagina but in my bits. like idk what they are i cant see them and ive tried like mirrors or taking pictures and for the life of me i cant get a good look but theyre round and soreish and theres usually only one at a time! which i think is NOT how genital herpes works? but also my entire sex ed was like. scarleteen dot com + catholic school christian vocations class w a teacher who gave us like 60% genuinely good info/40% scare tactics + fuckin uh theology of the body in middle school. so like maybe genital herpes are hashtag not that bad and u can have only one? but also i have literally never had sex with another person and my parents r catholics of the waiting for marriage sort so like literally where would i have gotten it. idk. it just would be reassuring to have someone knowledgeable tell me the thing im pretty sure is right is in fact right 💀

anyway thanks & sorry to bother you or if this was like grossly tmi 😭

hi anon,

people cannot give themselves sexually transmitted infections, no.

with herpes, what can and frequently does happen is a very early transmission of herpes to children from their adult caregivers, usually by utterly ordinary activities such as the adult kissing the child or the child touching the adult's face when they happen to have open cold sores. although less common, herpes can also be transmitted from parent to child during birth. some estimates hold that up to 20% of children have herpes by the time they're 5! people spread herpes without sex all the time; it's a very adaptable and persistent virus.

which isn't to say that you're guaranteed to have genital herpes; I don't know what you have, given that I'm not your healthcare provider. but there are plenty of reasons why someone might get a bump on their genitals, most of them utterly harmless:

[shallowseeker]

diff anon: I agree w your perspective on jack and dean, obviously dean didn't handle things particularly well, but then, I dont think any of us would in a situation as complicated as that. I think a lot of the "dean was the worst parent!!" arguments ignore the fact that dean was not obligated to be a parent and didn't want to be one (at least not to what was potentially a very dangerous entity, especially one that killed his mother), it was forced on him. which you'd think would add to the 'bad parent dean' trope, and a lot of people take it that way. but for me it explains a lot, people assume dean was jack's parental figure from day one and therefore all his actions to deal with jack fall under the category of 'parenting' (a lot of people also contradict themselves when it comes to jack and dean's relationship so bear with me if this gets a little confusing).

dean doesn't see himself as jack's parent or family in anyway at first. so he's not thinking 'what can I do to parent this child and look after him', obviously his initial actions won't reflect good 'parenting' because that's not remotely what he's trying to do. he's trying to grieve his mother, assess a potential threat, and prepare himself to eliminate it because when does anything ever go right for the winchesters? especially not when fast growing babies are involved. so yeah for me personally, my assessment of dean's parenting tends to come after he starts to forge that bond with jack because it seems unfair to score someone in a category that they didn't enter into when they're running a completely different race (sorry idk if my sports metaphors are making any sense it's like 4am and I am so tired).

idk I feel like the assumptions that 1. jack is functionally and developmentally a child (he's not really) and 2. dean had an obligation to parent him in the first place,, kind of skew fandom perspective on the situation. don't get me wrong, it's fine to criticise how he dealt with it and analyse his position in jack's life, I just don't think 'dean is an actively malicious parent' (implied or overt) is an accurate representation of canon. like you said tho, it's their prerogative to interpret it the way they want. (sorry if I just repeated anything you said, I hope this is at least coherent??)

Yeah. WE AGREE. I feel like if fandom could draw a divider line between early and later days in Jack's life, it would help a lot with the analyses feeling more balanced/in good faith.

NOT TO MENTION... Hey HI HELLO CONTEXT->

Dean warmed up to Jack after just, like 14 days???! That's... pretty crazy.

IMPORTANT TOO IS THAT, once Jack learned the root of Dean's grief, it completely re-contextualized "Dean wanting to kill him being scary," and intuitive little shit he is, JACK GOT THAT!!!! He even got mad at SAM instead for obfuscating all of that.

(Jack, for all his fear of "not feeling enough feelings" is a character who is more intuitive then even he himself knows. JUST LOOK at him and Dean with MIA compared to Sam!!!!!)

And just... HEY THAT WHOLE TIMELINE. IS. WILD. CAS WAS ONLY GONE A MONTH AT MOST!!!!! PROBABLY LESSSSSSSS...

SO YEAH!!!! WE ARE DANCING BECAUSE IF WE DIVIDE IT LIKE THIS (with your examples), it gets more interesting and clear I think

INITIALLY:

Dean didn’t see himself as Jack’s parent or feel any obligation to parent him.

I mean it's not just Lucifer's child but also the child of the woman, Cas, uh, LEFT him for. AHEM.

Dean's actions were driven by grief (over Cas, over Mary) and logical fear (that Jack was a dangerous threat).

Judging his early behavior as "bad parenting" is misplaced, because he wasn’t trying to parent and it's grossly UNFAIR to expect that of him—he was assessing a REAL POTENTIAL THREAT and coping with trauma.

IMHO I agree that the fandom assumption that Jack is a child and Dean was supposed to parent him distorts this early dynamic in ESPECIALLY IN BIG WAYS

///

LATER:

Dean begins to form a bond with Jack... and this is when a parental dynamic starts to develop.

Even that is whacky fast. BECAUSE!!!! After the initial HALF-MONTH OR MONTH of being in the same space, Jack promptly runs away and bless him, he APPEARS to go on a FUCKIN killing spree, so Dean was preparing himself for the worst.

I mean SURE Dean was almost-instantly "fond of the kid" in the month he had him before this, and he jumped into teaching him to read a map on the road trip to Tombstone (Note: Jack's BEST MEMORY IN HEAVEN) but personally EYE don't think it's until Jack said THIS that the parenting even fully crystallized (13x09 The Bad Place)

To ME: This is the moment that reads OHhhhhhhhh SHIT I MIGHT HAVE AN ACTUAL KID that lives w me and knows the full scope of both me and my life I DIDN'T THINK I'D GET THAT (script 14x19 you live in infamy for this line)

AFTER THAT, JACK WAS DEAN'S TOO-GOOD-TO-BE-TRUE. His captive music affectionado. His TV buddy. If you care.

He was even almost the "death that Dean would not survive," pretty literally with the Equalizer. Jack IS the thing that triggered Dean's existential crisis. That's not nothin.’

IN A WAY, The BEFORE AND AFTER with the Dean and Jack dynamic is epically demonstrated... by this:

& this

& this

////

From this point on, it’s more fair to see Dean’s actions in a "parenting" context. Dean refer to Jack as HIS kid to Lily Sunder, and he OFC gives himself and Jack codenames of father and son in Optimism.

And on numerous occasions AFTER THIS, Jack calls Dean his dad. (Aside/// OFC Jack is FUNDAMENTALLY a child raised by a village, not a nuke fam.)

It's not really until AFTER Apocalypse-World that Jack bonds strongly with any of them, but especially with Cas and Dean. I would say that bond with Dean and Cas really cements itself after 13x22 & 13x23.

You have my full heart on this -> -> Yes, while criticism is cool, labeling Dean as an actively malicious parent I think tends to misrepresent canon. Because it's important to consider context of the AWFUL situation!!! Yissss.

Also to me it's less fun to miss out on the VERY important and crunchy crunchy fact that Jack and Dean are fucked up in similar core ways and will forgive each other instantly for the fucked-up things that they fundamentally agree with in their family-loving, burden-shouldering little hearts (which includes murders and/or suicides for the good of all). ILTSM. <3

///

AFTER-MARY'S DEATH:

This should probably get it's own divider because for fucks' sake, that's Dean's MOM THAT DIED... not to mention symbolic death of HIS KID AS HE KNEW HIM. (And the death of Dean's future... the future he finally FINALLY visualized for himself.) That said, this is the most complicated part of all!!!

As for Dean's existential crisis, well, this is ALREADY too long. But most of you know where I stand on that, I hope? I feel like I've talked a lot about Dean's nervous breakdown AS a nervous breakdown (analogous to Sam's s1/s4/s8 nervous breakdowns, and Cas's s7/s8-9/s11-2 nervous breakdowns, and Mary's s12 nervous breakdown... there are enough nervous breakdowns to go around, surely????)

The sundering of Jack as family is a super important facet of the breakdown, because Dean has to do that to stomach Jack's sacrifice. Dean is no stranger to trying to sunder family. He tells Bobby that Bobby's not his father. He tries to kill Sam with a hammer.

Dean snaps out of it (too late) and kills death, just like in s10 with Sam, which is the point. SPN just needs, like... one more season to stick the themes, I think.

//////////////

I mostly just repeated you. But please take this answer with a slice of pizza and forgive the rambling because I don't have the energy to clean my asks up anymore.

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

We've only just begun (a Mon-el introspective? Idk dont ask me) (Rhea's wedding plans succeed)

Mon-el jolts from his misery when the door to his cell clicks open, and shoots to his feet when he sees Lena Luthor on the other side. He blinks in surprise.

"How...?"

Lena flashes an access key, apparently palmed from some soldier's gauntlet. Her smirk is flat and humorless. "You should really have a talk with your guards."

Mon-el scowls. "They're not *my*--"

"Whatever," comes the dismissive retort. "Coming?"

Mon-el is certainly not staying. But he's not about to let Lena Luthor take the lead, either. He overtakes her brisk pace in a jog, and though she huffs with derision, she thankfully doesn't protest. Kara's heroics have rubbed off on him enough to know that if Lena got hurt while he lagged behind... well. The less said about that, the better.

Mon-el manages to take out the few guards they run into on the way to the nearest transmat pad, but their disappearance is noticed just as Lena swipes the access key across the final sensor keeping them from their escape.

A siren blares, echoing in the empty corridor. Closing themselves in the transmat chamber is no better-- there the pulsing wail of the alarm presses close around them, even as Lena surges towards the control panel.

"Damn it!" she curses, fingers flying over the control board. "Shit!"

"They shut it down remotely?" Mon-el guesses correctly. Lena glares at the console. "We're trapped then."

"Maybe not!" Lena shouts over the klaxon. "If I can--"

The door opens behind them, admitting a squadron of guards who swiftly spill into the room. Mon-el smoothly disarms one, then floors another with a strike to his sternum. He knows all he can do to aid their escape is to buy Lena time--

Three guards pile on him at once, driving him to the ground. In moments he's restrained in manacles and pinned to the floor with a knee digging sharply into his back.

"Step back!" a guard barks at Lena, aggression plain in his posture.

Lena ignores him, jaw tight as she focuses on her task. In horror, Mon-el watches the guard level his staff weapon at Lena, preparing to fire.

"Step back!" the guard bellows again.

Again, Lena ignores him, even when the weapon at her back whines with a building electrical charge. Mon-el twists against the guard pinning him, to no avail. Finally, he sags.

"Lena," is all he says.

At the sound of his voice, Lena's fingers pause. Then her eyes close for a long moment, lips thinning into a tense line. Finally, she lifts her hands from the controls, and steps back.

In an instant, the guard seizes her by the arm and yanks her away. She gives a cry of pain as she stumbles, her bare feet scuffing against the floor.

"Careful!" Mon-el snaps, even as his own captors heave him to his feet. The guard flashes him a glare, which Mon-el meets with all the haughty authority he can muster. "The queen won't be pleased if you damage her."

The man scowls, but his grip relaxes ever so slightly. Mon-el meets Lena's eyes briefly, and finds a heady mix of irritation and despair staring back at him.

"Let's go!"

The guards march them from the room. Mon-el expects them to be escorted to the throne room, where his mother would chide them like children, but to his surprise, his escort turns back towards the cells. Lena's, however, turns the opposite direction.

"Hey!" Mon-el shouts, digging in his heels to try and maneuver back towards Lena. "Stop!"

"Mon-el!" Lena calls back, twisting desperately against the grip on her arm. She knows that separation would leave them both vulnerable. "Let me go!"

But no one listens. As the distance between them grows, Mon-el cranes his neck to look over his shoulder towards Lena, only to have his stop plummet when he sees her growing terror. Unable to do anything more, Mon-el draws on the only reassurance he has to offer.

"Supergirl will come!" he shouts to Lena, even as her captor turns them around the corner out of sight. "She's coming!"

---

Kara doesn't come. Not soon enough, anyway. He waits and hopes while he sits in his solitary cell, while he wonders if Lena was unharmed, when a pair of servants deliver a set of fresh finery to dress in.

"For your nuptials," sneers one of the two guards now posted at the cell door.

When he's dressed and finally escorted back to the throne room for the ceremony, Mon-el is relieved when Lena trails in just a few minutes later. She'd been given the same treatment, her dark gown traded for one of the richest red-- the color reserved for the very highest of rank. It is the color of Rao, and a symbol of his approval for the ceremony to come.

Lena seems defiant as she stalks towards the dais where Mon-el stands, but as Rhea commands the broadcast to begin and starts her speech, Mon-el feels Lena trembling beside him. He looks at her from the corner of his eye, and sensing his gaze, Lena looks back with apprehension in her eyes.

He hears Lena swallow thickly when Rhea orders them to face each other, and the fingers Mon-el takes in his own shake with the power of her thundering heartbeat. He wants to offer reassurance, but has none to give. This is happening, and nothing either of them can do will stop it.

A priest winds a silver ribbon around their joined hands, binding them together in the sight of Rao and his witnesses. As Rhea declares their marriage firm and final, Lena blinks, spilling a single tear down her cheek.

The broadcast ends, and Lena yanks her hands from Mon-el's the instant the ribbon is removed. She scrubs the tear away with the heel of one hand, swallowing again to steel herself as Rhea approaches.

"You performed beautifully, my dear," his mother says. She reaches out to brush Lena's cheek, who sharply pulls her head away from the touch. Rhea tsks. "Ah, well."

She turns to address them both. "I would have allowed you to spend your wedding night together, however after your little escapade, I don't trust that you won't cause trouble."

With a clap of her hands, the guards step forward once more, gripping them both tightly. Mon-el keeps his attention on Lena, watching as her gaze goes flat-- numb.

"I'm sorry," Mon-el says before Lena is dragged away, and he himself soon after. It echoes in his ears as they return him to his cell, and thunders in his head when his helplessness closes in around him.

I'm sorry.

----

Supergirl arrives a week later, after coordinating resistance against the Daxamite soldiers on the ground. When she arrives in the cell block where Mon-el waits, Kara's brow furrows in alarm.

"Where's Lena?" she demands.

"I don't know," Mon-el replies dully. "She may be in the royal wing, but I'm not--"

"Let's go."

Kara barely spares a moment to wrench the doors apart before marching away, and Mon-el is all too willing to follow. Backing Supergirl is something he can do-- now, he can finally help. He leads them to the most lavish of the court's chambers, correctly guessing that his mother had extended her the luxury of a high noble.

Within the chamber they find Lena, now changed from her red wedding gown to robes of deep purple. Between that and the way her hair is styled in the fashion of Daxam's courtiers, she looks every inch a Daxamite princess.

Lena turns from the window at their entrance. Her gaze bounces between them briefly. "Supergirl."

Kara is already closing the distance between them. Mon-el sees the way her arms lift to embrace Lena, only to redirect midway to grasp her friend by the shoulders.

"You're all right?" Supergirl asks.

Lena nods. "Yes, thank you."

Mon-el wonders if Kara can hear the distance in Lena's voice. If she does, she gives no indication as she shifts to the task at hand. "Let's get out of here."

Taking Lena by the hand, Kara guides them both from the chamber. With Supergirl as their escort, not a single guard can stop them: each one ends up crumpled at their feet, senseless or dead-- Mon-el isn't sure he wants to know which.

To his surprise, Lena slips her hand from Supergirl's after the second guard goes down, scooping up his sidearm as she follows the hero's path. The fact he hadn't thought to do the same pricks at Mon-el's pride, as does Supergirl's swift dispatch of any opponents they run into. But he keeps it to himself, aware that they are only this close to freedom because of Kara's help.

The alarms sound a few corridors away from the transmat room, and Lena's shoulders stiffen. "They'll have locked down the consoles," she says stiffly. "But if you can--"

"We don't need the consoles," Supergirl delivers with a smirk. She plucks a small fob from beneath the neck of her suit. "Different exit strategy."

At that, Lena's features spread into a conspiratorial grin, and for a moment Mon-el feels entirely out of place. Then Supergirl turns to him, nods, and cocks her head towards the end of the corridor.

"This way."

They make it to the far end of the ship without Lena having to fire a single shot. Reaching a deserted room, Kara guides them inside, then clicks the button on her fob just once. Instantly, the ship melts away, and the world coalesces around them once more into an entirely different scene.

Suddenly-- still-- attuned to Lena, Mon-el registers the moment Lena realizes where she is. Her eyes widen in surprise, scanning the icy fortress around her. In that scan, Lena's gaze lands on a tall, slender woman who must have activated the device to bring them home. In an instant, Lena's features shutter once more.

"Mother."

The woman saunters forward, and in her regal stature and haughtily bemused features, Mon-el sees his own mother. And just like with Rhea, Lena recoils when her mother reaches to touch her cheek.

The woman sighs at her reaction. "Even now, Lena?"

"Don't pretend you're here out of the goodness of your heart," Lena snaps.

"I'm here for you," her mother delivers firmly. "For my daughter."

"So you'll leave without me?"

At this, the woman frowns. "They are the reason this happened, they cannot be trusted!"

She reaches for her daughter's arm, only for Lena to wrench herself out of reach.

"*I* am the reason this happened, mother," Lena hisses. She glances guiltily towards where Kara has stiffened in surprise, but powers through. "*They* are the ones who will help me fix it."

"That's absolutely out of the question--"

"Your opinion means nothing." Lena bristles with obstinance, as though all the resistance she'd been unable to enact on the ship had found its outlet in this moment. "Now leave, so the rest of us can go home."

The woman scowls. "You're making a mistake."

"Not this time," comes Lena's firm reply, only for her mother to lift a knowing eyebrow.

"We'll see."

---

Once the woman leaves with her henchmen, Supergirl removes her cape to wrap it around Lena, whose thin gown offered little resistance to the Arctic cold. Lena accepts the gesture with a thin, shivering smile.

"Thank you."

Kara nods in reassurance. "Let's go home."

Outside a DEO helicopter waits for them with a pilot standing by. The trip feels long to Mon-el, spent in awkward silence seated between his girlfriend and his new wife.

Wife.

That means something to him, he finds. He watches Lena carefully throughout the ride, though she largely ignores him in favor of staring out the window. Supergirl, for her part, studies the both of them. The helicopter lands twenty miles from National City, not trusting the Daxamite fleet wouldn't shoot them from the sky on approach.

When they disembark, Mon-el sees Lena's look of surprise when he turns to help her down from the helicopter. But after that moment of hesitation, Lena accepts his assistance by placing her hand in his.

The last leg of their journey is spent in the back of an SUV, and Mon-el's shoulder brushes Lena's as they speed down the interstate. When the National City skyline comes into view, Lena stiffens at the columns of smoke still rising from the city. It looks like a scene from one Winn's movies, but it's not. It's real, and from the way Lena barely seems to breathe, the reality presses on her just as heavily.

They arrive at the alien bar with little fanfare. But even the quiet embraces Alex gives Kara and Winn gives Mon-el leaves Lena standing pointedly alone. Upon seeing Lena draw Supergirl's cape more securely around herself, Mon-el extricates himself from Winn's tight hug.

"Perhaps you have some clothes more comfortable?" he asks. Winn follows his gaze, seemingly only then noticing their final guest.

"Oh!" he chirps. "Yeah, of course! Hi, Miss Luthor."

Lena offers only the smallest upturn of her lips in gratitude. Her eyes flash to Mon-el, her features inscrutable in the barest of moments before she allows Winn to lead her inside. Mon-el almost follows, but lingers when Kara does. They finally embrace, and Mon-el releases some of the tension he'd been carrying with a sigh.

"Thank you," he murmurs quietly.

"I saw the broadcast," Kara says. When she pulls away, her face is creased with worry. "The wedding. Are... are you okay?"

Mon-el pauses, and realizes he doesn't quite know how to respond. For want of an answer, he deflects.

"Lena spent the most time with my mother," he says, half jokingly. "She's the one you should worry about."

Kara frowns, a wrinkle forming between her eyebrows. "I can worry about you both."

"I'm fine." As he says the words, Mon-el can feel how untrue they are. He tries again. "I'll be fine when my people have left this planet for good."

Kara's gaze searches his, but thankfully doesn't push any further. "Now that we have you both back, we might stand a chance."

---

Their chance, as Mon-el had long suspected, is entirely Lena. When Mon-el follows the team to the DEO, Lena parts ways, heading for L-Corp. That she would go to her place of business instead of her home carries a meaning Mon-el can't quite define. Perhaps it is to Lena what the throne room is to his mother: a place of power, control... both of which Mon-el is certain Lena feels the need to regain.

Even so, he's relieved when she returns just a few hours later with a plan. His heart drops when he learns that plan is to poison Earth's atmosphere with lead, but when his gaze connects with Lena's, he finds no malice. If anything, she seems reluctant to offer the plan, clearly a last resort.

"We won't need it," Supergirl declares. She is sure of two things, where Mon-el is only certain of one: Supergirl may win the Dakam-ur, but Rhea will not honor it.

For the first time in his life, Mon-el wishes he'll be wrong.

He isn't.

---

Supergirl is the one to press the button, but it's Kara who says goodbye. Her eyes are full of tears, and even as he chokes on the air in his lungs, Mon-el wants nothing more than to wipe them away.

"I'm a better person, because of you," he coughs thickly. "Kara, please..."

"I'm sorry," she whispers hoarsely. "I'm so sorry."

Mon-el shakes his head. There's nothing to forgive. Instead, he has a request of his own.

"Take care of Lena."

Kara stares at him, confusion clouding her tear-filled gaze. "What?"

"She's going to need you," Mon-el gasps. "And you'll need her in return. Let her be what I couldn't."

"Mon-el..."

"Tell her I'm sorry. Tell her... I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to be the person she needed me to be. The person you both needed me to be." He wheezes painfully, every breath a thousand knives prickling his throat and lungs. "I should have stopped the wedding. You would have."

Kara shakes her head, but Mon-el knows. Had it been Supergirl in his shoes, she would have thought of some way to thwart the ceremony.

He should have thought to challenge his mother to the Dakam-ur himself, right there on that dais.

"Don't let Lena blame herself," Mon-el continues. "And don't blame yourself either. You made the right choice."

He doubts Kara believes him now, but in time, in the months or years it takes for the ache to fade, he knows she will. It is the right choice.

His final goodbye is a wave through the shuttles window as it lifts off the ground. Pre-programmed to exit Earth's orbit as swiftly as possible, he soon loses sight of Kara as the pod lifts through the atmosphere and into the dark of space.

In that void of expanse, Mon-el knows that whatever else, the two women he leaves behind will be fine. His wife and the love of his life will find their way through, together.

[aerequets]

the mortifying ordeal of being known

--

I think with Yor being so perceptive, she picks up on little things often (like we saw in ch 103). i believe this would impact loid more so than the usual person, because he is a spy and fakes every part of himself, so to be seen is simultaneously desirable and horrifying. like, it makes him torn between wanting to accept and reciprocate the love, or distancing himself so that it doesn't happen again.

thats mostly what the last panel is about, that dichotomy between 'omg this person noticed this about me, is this love' and 'oh shit this person noticed this about me, is this Doom'

just some thoughts i had🤪

[choccy-milky]

bird in her gilded cage 💙🪽

[deoidesign]

One of my first digital pieces (2010) versus one of my recent ones (2024)

We all start somewhere!

[wassupmygays]

god its so cool and Important how. despite all the bright colors and flash fabrics and jewelry, all of the socs are really just carbon copies of each other. theyve all got the same base, just recolored like a character selection page on a cheap game.

all the guys have their crisp, clean, bright shirt, their nice stiff pants, belt, and white shoes. add in some rings and maybe a chain or somethin, and thats about it. add on their matching letterman jackets, and theyre practically identical.

all of the girls have their pretty dresses and styled hair, but thats really it. their dresses all match the popular style at the time, their hair is perfectly placed and not really Theirs. theyre all styled to be popular, not individual.

and they're all so colorful! because they can afford new fabrics and bright colors and expensive dry cleaners to wash them, though they're careful not to get dirty. theyre so bright and colorful but so painfully similar

contrast that with the greasers, who are all relatively in the same color palette. theyre in basic t-shirts, and denims, and leathers. work clothes. theres no split based on gender, ace wears pants with the guys. they are all down in the dirt and grimey, they all have to move and work in these clothes.

but theres so much personality in their outfits! even just the little things, like jewelry or headbands, tells so much about each person. ace's headband is a scrap from the shirt on her back, showing her resourcefulness. darry's flannel and work pants showing his grit and hard work. the patches decorating steve's jacket, showing his passions and the things he fights for. Johnny's vest showing his heritage, and his too-big clothes showing how hes got hand-me-downs. two-bit's tattoos, shown proudly and boldly on his bare arm for the whole world to see.

the greasers might all look 'the same' at first glance because theyre all in grays and dirty whites and denims. but god there is so much more heart and character and diversity in their outfits and therefore in their lives simply because theyre not worrying about sticking in a top spot of society. theyre not worrying about individuality being a weakness to tear them down. theyve got much bigger things to think about. theyre so free in that sense. free to be themselves, free to be with each other and support each other. because thats all they got; their hearts and each other.

the socs dont have that connection. they dont have that chance to be vulnerable and share a part of themselves so constantly. they may live where the grass is greener but are they really so much better off, if they can never truly show themselves?

[cyanide-sippy-cup]

Video by shesasolarbeing on Insta cause apparently unlike TikTok they don't like putting watermarks for their creators. Go check them out!

Friend sent me this and my first thought was @kianamaiart 's magical girl series. Or rather, AIKA REAL??!?1?!1

[plum-pudding-everywhere]

[godsfavoritescientist]

well hold on, if we define a character flaw as any limitation a character deals with, regardless of whether it's something Morally Wrong With Them or not, then Ford's paranoia counts as a character flaw since it does in fact negatively impact him and the people around him. Let me use better wording here: I will die on the hill that Ford's paranoia is not a moral failing.

[almostyours]

hi have you considered any other fcs for the girls ? the lineup is exquisite don't get me wrong i'm just curious

oooooo of course i have!  and maybe u just wanted a normal response from me,  but i am going to make this reply a bit more visual and fun  (for me)  because i am going to explain what i was looking out for in my girls and why i decided not to choose ___ and ___ and yada yada because i'm feeling crazy!  also because i’m taking inspiration from @/pureun because they did something like this before and i thought it was really fun  <3  but trust me,  it will be really hard to get sana,  jisoo,  and yuqi out of my hands.  they are set on stone at this point!

first off,  we are starting with my darling kaia.  for her i wanted someone to bring the fun to the group and,  for lack of better words,  friendly-looking.  approachable,  lighthearted,  someone who exudes comfort to even those she’s not close to,  someone very fun to look at when on stage,  and someone who is known to be a wonder to be around with.  a mom friend,  basically.  but i also wanted someone no one would ever suspect of doing anything wrong,  which is why it was such a shock to fans when rumors circulated that kaia mistreated a stylist and that she is known by her inner circle to have anger issues  🙈  

i immediately thought of sana minatozaki when i came up with her because hellooooooooooooo!  and she was perfect because i actually wanted a japanese fc as i wanted kaia to be a member of akb48.  i also really liked the idea of kaia pulling a xg’s cocona and going viral for flawlessly rapping in three languages 😮‍💨 and idk just the thought of the face of baby girlism sana having anger issues and rapping in the levels of soyeon will always be funnie to me

i consider and think about nana komatsu as kaia every now and then,  though.  there was a time that i actually wanted her to be the oldest out of the three and in a way i could see nana fitting her background,  especially as an idol who likes to stay low-key with her own endeavors,  but i just don’t see her as kaia.  maybe as idol!kaia,  but not kaia,  yknow?    i also think that the vibes of nana!kaia would have been a little bit too similar to yvan’s,  and the thing about hiraeth is that the three of them are different from each other

mina myoi also crossed my mind because madre!  but it’s the opposite of nana’s situation.  i see her as kaia,  sure,  but not as idol!kaia  D:

for poppy, i wanted someone who gave off princess-y,  royalty like vibes with a dash of cunt,  especially as she’s the group's representation of elegance and maturity.  miss little pretty face,  a reserved woman with a big mouth and an open mind,  devoted to her craft as an idol and as a producer,   someone people and other idols look up to,  usually kept under a microscope by knetizens because there’s no way anyone could be that nice  (and she’s not even that nice,  she just minds her business!),  if her face is involved,  the brand’s stocks are sure to rise,  and she’s not that intimidating,  but there’s something about her that makes people hesitate to approach—not just because of her beauty or her monotone-like attitude,  but because she’s poppy.  i also wanted someone who seemed really put together on the outside,  but in reality they are not as poppy is chronically ill and kinda insane ngl  😔

i think out of the three, poppy’s main fc is the one i don’t think i’d ever change. i’m really attached to jisoo as miss pawppy—  like,  there’s so much history in here friendsies!!  poppy is jisoo,  just with some alterations that i’d love to talk about eventually,  but i’d be lying if i said i haven’t thought of other people as poppy.  not because i don’t see her in jisoo anymore,  but because i’m so attached to poppy as a character that i see her everywhere,  either as a concept or as someone else.

eunbi never never neeeever fails to remind me of her…  she’s genuinely the perfect alternate fc,  especially since she’s the same age as jisoo so if i did the change, i wouldn’t need to adjust anything!  but i have a really strong bias,  and i know that if i ever changed her fc to eunbi,  i’d end up switching back  😭 

and here’s where i admit that each girl is inspired by current or former idols,  and poppy is lowkey inspired by hirai momo who has always reminded me of her—  in terms of her personality,  stage presence and her looks.  like that one picture she posted during the miumiu fashion show…  where she was sitting and looking back at the camera with her bare back,  like yall,  that's poppy!  😵‍😵‍😵‍  but again,  i have a bias.  plus i also want kaia to be the only japanese woman in the group

now heejin would have been the perfect candidate to be poppy’s fc if only poppy wasn't a hag,  so yeah.  that’s never gonna happen unless i make an alt universe where they are younger…  :p

for yvan,  i wanted someone with the it factor—  someone who graduated from servington university with a degree in serving!!!  😝  i wanted someone approachable and relatable,  THEY/THEM realness fr, a best friend or at least a friend to many,  admired for their genuine love for their job and their talents,  fun and quirky with a dash of chaoticness that usually keeps everyone on their toes,  so big-mouthed it often lands them in trouble but usually works out in their favor,  and despite doing absolutely nothing  (they absolutely did or said something btw),  their name is always on everyone’s mouths.  i also wanted someone who could “snatch” the golden maknae title from j*ngkook,  which is the reason why armys fucking hates them and keep making up stuff about someone who’s not only globally liked but also j*ngkook’s number one wingman!  🙄

yvan actually went through a lot of fc changes until i started to pay attention to g-idle during the queencard era.  when i say everything clicked when i watched this yuqi fancam…  yeah.  since then i’ve never considered changing their fc.  yuqi is literally everything i envisioned for yvan  <3

xiaoting was one of their initial fcs and the one who stuck around the longest  (i even have old edits with her face and everything),  but i couldn’t quite see yvan in her as much as i wanted to  ):  

now ningning…   siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighs.  it’s similar to poppy’s situation with heejin—  though she’s the perfect candidate to be yvan’s face claim,  she was too young to be in a group with ’95 liners,  and i wasn’t going to age-bend anyone for that.  maybe in another universe…

i initially created the idea of yvan with yves in mind  (catch the “y” at the beginning of their stage names?  not really a coincidence lmao),  but due to some plot changes to fit the narrative of my friend’s and my ideas,  i decided to switch their ethnicity.

but wait.  alternate faceclaims but instead they are younger and have just debuted recently…  wait!

[greasydumbfuck]

thinking about frank and sex (in a sad way)

[deoidesign]

someone asked me what if adam and steve switched vampire and werewolf...

And then since my monsters are purposefully not much visually different because of metaphors, I went more traditional vampire and werewolf...

and then I got carried away...

[mikuyuuss]

It's such a horrible time for me to be exploring my love for fashion when the trend right now is colorless basic asylum aesthetic 😭😭 You can't even wear something with a bit of color without people making fun of you, and YET basic people have the gal to act like they are the ones being oppressed saying "Everyones trying to be unique nowadays! I love being basic so I don't have to impress everyone!☺️☺️☺️"

First of all not everyone's trying to dress up to impress everyone. I'm sorry that I actually just want to express myself while YOU only follow trends. Being basic is literally the socially acceptable norm that was imposed on a lot of people. I HATE THIS SOCIETYYY

[cyanide-sippy-cup]

Oh, a new TADC episode. Why didn't I get notified? Eh, whatever. Can't wait to watch-

GOOSE WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO MY HEART